All posts tagged ACS

A 7-year-old girl who tumbled out of a sixth floor Brooklyn window and survived had small traces of illegal drugs in her system and may have been sexually abused, authorities said on Friday.

The girl, who was on vacation from Florida, fell Wednesday night from an apartment in Coney Island’s Gravesend Houses where she had been visiting family members with her step-mother and 1-year-old step brother, a law-enforcement official said.

The girl, whose name is being withheld because she is a minor, was listed in stable condition on Friday.

Doctors found amphetamine, cannabis and methadone in her system from a urine sample, the official said Read More »

Carlotta Brett-Pierce, second left, and Loretta Brett, second right, received sentencing at the Brooklyn Supreme Court on Wednesday for the murder of 4-year-old Marchella Pierce.

A Brooklyn mother convicted in the murder of 4-year-old Marchella Pierce was sentenced to at least 32 years in prison Wednesday in a case that highlighted cracks in the city’s child-welfare system.

In handing down the sentence, State Supreme Court Justice Patricia DiMango said the girl’s mother, Carlotta Brett-Pierce, “knowingly, coldly and without remorse ignored her need for basic sustenance.”

“What kind of person could do this to a child, let alone their own child?” the judge asked.

Brett-Pierce, 32 years old, addressed the packed courthouse, describing her daughter’s death as a tragedy. ”I do take responsibility for some of the mistakes made on my behalf,” she said, “but I do not accept responsibility for my daughter’s death because, in fact, I didn’t kill her.” Read More »

A week after their parents allegedly abducted them from a New York City foster care center, eight children are back in the custody of children’s services officials.

Police said authorities tracked down Shanel Nadal, her husband Nephra Payne and their children in Harrisburg, Pa. around 10:30 p.m. Monday. The New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force arrested the parents on a Manhattan Family Court warrant charging them with child neglect.

Police said the couple’s seven boys, ages four to 11, all named Nephra, along with their 11-month-old daughter, Nefertiti, were found in “good condition.” The childrens’ service agency in Harrisburg has custody of the children, who are expected to be transferred into the custody of the city’s Administration for Children’s Services, police said. Read More »